Official Luthiers Forum!

Well Tony I want my guitars to last for awhile.
The X joint is only that height.
Then the X brace tapers to the side .
If you read the rest of the post you'll see I compensate
for the center stiffness by using webs in stead of
"normal" finger braces
I've re- topped to many under build tops.
160-190 # of tension depending string gauge can fold up
a top easily over time .
May sound loud & great for a few years before it sinks in!

BUT the arching of the top is important as you know!
If building a real "flat top" short in height braces will eventually
start to bend under the string tension.
D-35s

Mike

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Mike Collins

Here is an alternative suggestion on woods...walnut body/redwood top. My Parlors were built on the 0-16 Martin New Yorker body size, but with deeper sides. One is for sale at Dream Guitars and has a You Tube video of Al Pettaway playing it. Go here and listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7YjHf7cCNE

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Hank Mauel

Also, RW FB and bridge really warms things up...

Hank, that is a gorgeous guitar, both in sound and aesthetic! Well done, sir.

How much deeper are the sides vs what the plans call for?

Again, Hank, well done indeed.

Nice job Hank, a real sweetheart.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

That Parlor was from 2001. I was building them with about a 4.5" deep bottom end, tapering to about 3.75" at the neck block. Single tone bar and single wing braces. Bracing was about .625" tall at the X and had a footprint of about .300". No popsicle brace under fingerboard as I had gone to the "tongue" on top of the neck block to give a secure , flat surface for gluing down the finger board extension. That left the upper bout to generate some sound...probably in the higher registers owing to the small, relatively stiff area at the upper bouts.
The Parlors were right at top of my most requested builds. Probably built 20-25 out of my lifetime total of 150+ instruments.
Hope the sound bite is of help to anyone starting out in that size instrument and illustrates that you can build a small guitar bodied without the brittle tones.

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Hank Mauel

Thanks so much for the details, Hank. I'm building a OO, so it's going to be a little bigger by default, but 4.5" is a little deeper than even the Martin OO's. I don't doubt that that makes for a richer sound.

So when you say that the footprint of the bracing was .300", you mean 5/16", right? Did you use the same width bracing throughout? My plans call for 5/16" X and 1/4" everywhere else.

Thanks again!